PREVIEW: Barney Frank explains why raising taxes is the easiest option -& the GOP knows it For more watch at 8E!

Rep. Barney Frank, D-Mass., and “Viewpoint” host Eliot Spitzer take apart the GOP’s position that the government can raise a substantial amount of new tax revenue — Obama wants to raise $1.6 trillion over the next decade — by closing loopholes and limiting deductions. Democrats argue that the money should instead come, at least in part, from letting the Bush tax cuts expire for individuals making more than $250,000 a year, effectively raising their income tax rates from 35 percent to 39.6 percent. Frank and Spitzer agree that politically it is a lot easier to raise tax rates than it is to actually close the loopholes and limit deductions. “Here’s the deal: You say, ‘OK, let’s see what we can do in deductions.’ And then you say to people, ‘Do you want to go after the home mortgage interest deduction? … [Or] the charitable deduction? The health care deduction? And then, of c...